Sharpen your tools: Fall's record flood turns to ice

But as seasons go, this one has proven extraordinary for Front Range ice climbers so far. Online forums are abuzz with the latest reports -- mostly phenomenal -- of what's "in" (formed), what's "fat" (formed thick) and what's accessible.

September's 100-year flood has, at least in part, stimulated some of the most impressive ice and mixed (rock and ice) conditions the Front Range has experienced in recent memory. As soon as roads reopened post-flood, climbers started sinking their tools into rarely formed, high-altitude ice.

On Sept. 30, Topher Donahue, of Nederland, and Kevin Cooper, of Meeker Park, climbed the infamous "Smear of Fear" (WI5, M6) on the east face of Longs Peak. Donahue said it was the first time the "Smear" has formed in five years. Donahue later blogged, "I saw ice features that I'd never seen in 30 years of ice climbing in the area."

But the "Smear of Fear" was just a warm-up for the duo who, on Oct. 25, made the first ascent of the "Window Pain" (WI6+) -- a dramatic pitch of ice high on the Diamond of Longs Peak. Donahue had his eye on this ephemeral line of frozen vapor for 15 years.

"The smear was a couple of inches thick at the thinnest and a couple of feet thick at the fattest," Donahue said. "What made the Window Pain especially burly was the angle: It was perfectly vertical for 150 feet."

Not to mention the thin air at nearly 14,000 feet.

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Local climbers Will Mayo and Ben Collett also took advantage of prime conditions at altitude this autumn when they established "Silhouette" (WI6+ M9, 480 feet) on the Black Wall of Mount Evans (14,265 feet) on Oct. 30.

Mayo called "Silhouette" a "traditional mixed climb with equal parts ice and rock." He only hinted at its extreme nature (M9 is absurdly difficult) by saying, "The climbing is steep enough that if the delicate icicles were to collapse, one would take a huge fall -- perhaps 60 feet -- but it would be all air. The feeling of climbing the first ascent of a route like 'Silhouette' is, for me, the most cherished of all climbing experiences."

Collett teamed up with several other ice/mixed enthusiasts in October to pioneer "Black and White" (WI4/5 M5/6, 550 feet) on the Black Wall and "66 Years of Fun" (WI3 M5, 500 feet) on Pikes Peak. "It seems as if just about everything that ever forms has formed this year," he said. "Everything from Rocky Mountain National to Pikes Peak is huge. This is the best year (of ice/mixed) since I've been around," said Collett, who has lived in Boulder since 2000.

While the historic flood is largely responsible for this season's fat ice conditions at both upper and lower elevations, there's something else that explains the unusually high volume of new local winter routes recently.

"The standards for what's considered a worthwhile ice route have changed," Collett said. It used to be that ice climbers climbed ... well, ice. But today, due to many factors like superior gear, improved mixed climbing techniques and the drive for exploration, "ice climbers" are more willing to climb rock (with ice tools in hands and crampons on boots) -- even for hundreds of feet, just to reach a mere drip of ice.

Donahue said, "People don't even need ice anymore -- they just go climb the rock with their ice gear and call it a mixed route."

That said, the actual ice climbing this season has been "exceptional," said Dougald MacDonald, editor of the American Alpine Journal and Front Range climber of 26 years. He predicts that groundwater from the September floods will continue to produce remarkable conditions throughout the winter, especially at lower elevations. "That is," he said, "once we have some consistent, deep cold."

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